Kinder, Gentler Cantor?

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor outlined a kinder, gentler House Republican agenda for the coming term that puts a greater emphasis on kitchen table issues, and called for a path to citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants.

Two years after the Republicans came to power in the House on a wave of tea party fervor, Cantor’s speech at a DC think tank Tuesday – entitled “Making Life Work” – marked the start of an effort to move beyond the budget fights that have come to define the party at a time of divided government.

This 180 degree turn is quite a suprise and Eric Centor is one of many who as seen the light–the light that says harsh anti immigrant rhetoric is not going to be a winner in future elections. Hopefully, Cantor will also learn that you don’t have tto be nasty mean to be a modern Republican.

The Dream Act is the place to start. Kids who have done well in school and who have stayed out of trouble deserve to be allowed to go to school, to further their education. The United States educates students from around the world. These students don’t ask for a hand out. They just asked to be allowed to go to school. The Dream Act kids should get no less.

You have quoted the union president and now say that ICE disapproves of presidential orders. Since when do you care what unions say? Actually, I don’t believe half what Crane says. That just isn’t how it works.

Funniest thing–it just all depends on who you ask. If you ask those who strongly oppose illegal immigration, they will blast ICE and say they don’t do their jobs (long before President Obama was elected.) If you ask ICE unions, they will say that they are being held back. If you ask the agency head, they will now tell you that the direction they are going is to concentrate on illegal immgrants who have committed crimes other than just being here which really is an infraction not a crime.

So how do you want to use limited resources? Do you want to concentrate on rounding up people who have not committed crimes or do you want to direct those limited resources to removing people who are here illegally and have probably committed crime?

Cargo, you are a father. Why would you want to take a child who has worked hard in school and put a brick in their head and tell him or her she cannot go to college? Why would you want to deport a child who has every possibility of contributing to our society in a few years?

If you don’t want to make sure that these kids achieve their educational dreams, then perhaps you need to take a look at the profession you are chosing. I can’t imagine that any potential teacher wouldnt want to help these kids capture the dream. If they are deported or kept from college, then their dreams have become interuppted. These kids have to have some hope. they aren’t here on their own.

@Moon-howler
That wasn’t my point. Notice..I did not criticize the DREAM act here. I’m against the President acting without congressional authority. And that the ICE unions feel that his executive decision to selectively enforce the law is making their jobs harder.

My point was that Cantor is pandering to the “latino” vote hoping to gain support for the GOP. The problem is that it won’t work. The Republicans LOST latino votes after granting amnesty. So, that voting bloc must be voting for Democrats for another reason.

The Republicans lost the Latino vote after the sheer nastiness verbalized by many who identified themselves as Republicans. The anti immigration crowd didn’t help much either, mainly because they always slipped up and failed to make the distinction.

@Moon-howler
I know that I’ve criticized it. I was pointing out that I was not doing so here, since we’ve covered that.
As for his executive orders, they STILL have to fall within his power. Does the President have the power to pick and choose which laws must be enforced and what benefits illegal aliens can receive?

I don’t think your question applies. So much of the law is policy which is set by beaurocrats. I don’t think there is a law about picking up children and deporting them. I am not sure what Obama’s executive order has done with actual admissions to college. And would that be seen as a benefit?

I am still hung up on the idea that being here illegally is nothing more than an infraction, not a crime. It is a felony. That ICE has been directed to only focus on those felons who have then committed additional other crimes is the problem. Prioritization yes, but with full respect for federal law.

I’m baffled by the whole “illegal” immigration issue. Does anyone realize how difficult it is to legally immigrate to our country? There’s not one “line” to get into, there are many, and some have wait times of decades. Whether felony or not, the “crime” involved is the result, in the vast majority of cases, of people coming here to work and support their families. If only more of our “crime” was of that nature.

We’ve always been a nation of immigrants, and that is what has made us strong. Nations that turn inward and close their borders wither and die. What is the issue with people immigrating to our country?

Blue,
Your ignorance of immigraton is showing. It is NOT a felony to cross the border without papers, it is a civil crime NOT a felony. If you have ever been written a speeding ticket, that is in the same category, CIVIL penalty.

I hope this helps illuminate your understanding of immigration. I will not claim to be an immigration attorney, but I will claim that it is a hellva lot more complicated than most people understand.

Laguage and the morhping of illegal and criminal has been horribly abused. It use to be, before 9-11, you just “adjusted your status” if you did not have proper paper work. Now everyone is suddenly an “illegal”, like now people can acually be classified in a category other than a NOUN! Very successful dehumanizing tactic, and it worked for too many years.

The last successful Republican who actually won a presidential election was George W. He got around 40 percent or so of the Latino vote, which was just enough to get him reelected in a very close election in 2004. George W tried immigration reform and it paid off for him politically. So Cantor is doing the right thing both morally and politically

It is a crime and the more times you get caught the stiffer the penalty before lawful deportation. Not that you care, but under Title 8 Section 1325 of the U.S. Code, “Improper Entry by Aliens,” any citizen of any country other than the United States who enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than via a designated immigration officer has committed a federal crime, classified as a Felony. You may be thinking of the Nationality Act which permits illegal entry into the US for first-time offenders to be charged as a misdemeanor, while persons who have been shown to repeatedly enter the US can be charged as felons. Interestingly, it is also a felony to assist an illegal alien under the Federal Immigration and Nationality Act, INA 274A(a)(1)(A).

And therein lies the problem, as a matter of politics they are treating these crimes as misdemeanors.

It’s such a hoot to see pols like Cantor running through the clothes racks trying to find a new costume for the new season. Because they’re frightened, they’re just throwing on anything that looks different, hoping desperately that no one will remember what they wore last season.